Fire in Honduran
sugar cane field
kills 13 children
The tragedy leads mill workers to question common
practices and safety measures for cutting cane
BY FREDDY CUEVAS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras —
Honduran children hunting rabbits
who were running from a burning
sugar cane field were caught in the
blaze themselves. Thirteen young
sters were killed, and a man and a
14th child were severely burned.
Workers set the fire Monday night
as part of the harvest on 40 acres of
the Choluteca sugar company in San
ta Cruz, 100 miles south of the capi
tal, Tegucigalpa, Security Ministry
spokesman Leonel Sauceda said.
The children, who ranged in ages
from 5 to 17, were in a nearby field,
waiting to catch the rabbits as they
escaped the fire. But the blaze spread
out of control and trapped them,
Sauceda said.
“The wind spread the fire rapidly,”
he said.
Firefighter Mario Velasquez said
the sudden change confused the chil
dren, who began stripping off their
clothes as they mistakenly ran toward
the fire rather than away from it.
Eleven of them died immediately;
two died in a hospital.
Workers did not know the children
were nearby until they heard their
screams and family members ran to
rescue them, Sauceda said.
Relatives of the victims sobbed as
the charred bodies were laid out on a
concrete floor Tliesday, then lowered
under white sheets into coffins. Most
of the 500 residents of Santa Cruz, a
poor town on the border with
Nicaragua, work as laborers in the
sugar industry.
Emil Hawit, Honduras chief pros
ecutor for environmental affairs,
said authorities were investigating
to see if the company that owned
the field, Azucarera Choluteca,
could be accused of negligence. No
formal charges had been filed in the
case, however.
“Even though it’s true the poverty
of these people caused the tragedy,
we should also determine if the com
pany is at fault,” Hawit said.
Azucarera Choluteca general
manager Braulio Cruz said the
mill did nothing wrong, adding
that the burning of the fields had
been planned months in advance.
But he said that “the accident obli
gates us to improve the process of
cutting cane.”
President Ricardo Maduro met with
families of the victims and said he
would study whether the sugarcane
fields really needed to be burned, a
common practice used to clear a field
of snakes and debris before harvest.
“We will do everything necessary
so that similar tragedies don’t hap
pen in this country,” he said. “This
entire community is in pain, and it
is really sad.”
Velasquez said in the future offi
cials would post guards around sug
arcane fields before setting them on
fire, an effort to keep residents away
from the flames.
So long, Smartypants
Ken Jennings ended his record shattering
74-show winning streak on “Jeopardy!”
during Tuesday’s episode. He earned
$2,520,700 - the most money ever ^
won by a TV game show contestant. V&
Correct j Average
answers wager
2,613 out j $3,799
of 2,848 i on Daily
attempts i Double
51 out of 74 i $7,727
in Final ! on Final
Jeopardy ; Jeopardy
Losing “Most of this firm’s 70,000 seasonal
question white-collar employees work only
four months a year.
' Show
record
i>P°ia
S| leijM
NOTE: Data is through 74 shows.
SOURCES: King World Productions Inc.; tvgameshows.net
ft ”' **
1
1
IN BRIEF
Ken Jennings, 'Jeopardy!'
whiz, finally defeated
NEW YORK — “Jeopardy” whiz
Ken Jennings finally met his match
after a 74-game run as a pop culture
icon who made brainiacs cool, beat
en by a woman whose own 8-year
old daughter asked for his autograph
when they first met.
As someone who has always pre
pared his own tax returns, Jennings
was tripped up in Final Jeopardy by
this answer: Most of this firm’s
70,000 seasonal white-collar employ
ees work only four months a year.
( # Jh£ cprrect reply: “What is H&R
Block?” But Jennings guessed Federal
Express, ending his remarkable run
as the biggest winner in TV game
show history with a haul of
$2,520,700.
Having an accountant friend
who’s nearly impossible to reach at
tax time paid off big-time for his
conqueror, California real estate
agent Nancy Zerg, who ousted the
baby-faced killer competitor in the
episode airing Tuesday.
During his streak that began June
2, Jennings usually had opponents so
thoroughly beaten that the Final
Jeopardy question was meaningless
to the outcome. But Zerg was within
striking range at that point, with
$10,000 to Jennings’ $14,400. Her
correct reply gave Zerg $14,001 to
Jennings’ $8,799.
— The Associated* Pre&f *
IN BRIEF
At least 31 dead in
Indonesian plane crash
JAKARTA, Indonesia — A Lion
Air passenger plane carrying more
than 150 people skidded off a run
way in central Indonesia during
heavy rain and split in two pieces
Thesday, killing at least 31 people,
airline officials and witnesses said.
Three of the dead were children,
and at least 62 people were injured,
officials said. Some survivors re
mained stuck in the wreckage for
more than three hours after the
crash, according to media reports.
The accident occurred at about 6
p.m. as Flight JT583 landed in Solo, a
thriving tourist town about 310 miles
southeast of the capital, Jakarta,
according to the station. The MD-82
plane took off from Jakarta with 141
passengers and five crew members
aboard, airline officials said.
The plane stopped in the East
Java town of Surabaya before head
ing to Solo, where it skidded off the
runway, broke up and came to rest
in a cemetery about 100 yards away,
airport officials said.
— The Associated Press
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